Oh and George H. W. Bush is blameless. Do I recall something alone the lines of "no new taxes". He was an idiot and needed to be turned out.
""no new taxes". He was an idiot and needed to be turned out."
agreed however i would have preferred to see him go down in the primary
obviously the man is not blameless i just saw the results of Clinton and cringe
Idiot is a bit harsh. His mistake was not making the "no new taxes" pledge but rather in compromising with the democrats and accepting a tax rate increase in 1990. He should have vetoed the tax increase with fanfare and announced at the veto ceremony "During the campaign, I told you that the democrats in the house would come back again and again asking for more taxes, and I told you that I would tell them 'Read my lips: no new taxes'. Today, just as I predicted during the campaign, the only answer the democrat congress has is to raise your taxes. And just as I promised, I am sending their tax increase back to them with my veto."
Had GHW Bush made that speech while vetoing the democrat tax increase, then: (1) he would probably have averted the recession that was brought on by the tax increase but which was over by the 92 election;
(2) clinton's "it's the economy, stupid" campaign would have been a bit more difficult to sell;
(3) GHWB would have had much more credibility as the trust-worthy candidate and a better contrast to slick willie;
(4) GHWB would have probably been a two-term president;
(5) The GOP might have had a true conservative standard-bearer in 1996 rather than Bob Dole, but he would have had to displace 2-term incumbant VP Dan Quayle to get the nod;
(6) The 2000 campaign environment would have been significantly different from what it was and W might not have been positioned to become the GOP nominee for President.